Sourav Ganguly became the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president in October 2019 and his tenure has been both roses and thorns.
While he has been lauded for positive changes in the way Indian cricket has moved forward; his way of dealing with players and communication issues have put a dent in his reputation as an administrator.
The biggest blunder came when Virat Kohli clashed with Ganguly over his dumping as India ODI captain, saying there was no communication from the board or selection committee about this development. But then Ganguly retorted back saying he personally had talked to Kohli and requested him not to step down as T20I captain.
Then came the Wriddhiman Saha episode, in which he revealed that Ganguly had allegedly assured him of his place in the India Test squad after he was dropped from the team for the foreseeable future and told so by the team management.
Saha shouldn’t have made conversation with BCCI chief public, says Snehasish Ganguly
In all this, the veteran keeper unwittingly drew attention to a new practice that’s making a mockery of the cricket board’s governance norms: the former India captain and present BCCI president’s unauthorized say in selection matters.
The BCCI constitution bars its president from having any role in picking the national team in order to retain the independence and autonomy of the selection committee. “The President is shorn of his say in selections,” the Supreme Court-approved constitution says.
The only BCCI office-bearer authorized to be present is the secretary, who acts as a convenor without a say in the selection.
However, Indian Express, in a report revealed that three past and present selectors under Ganguly’s tenure confirmed that the BCCI president was a regular feature at selection meetings. One of the BCCI functionaries claimed that Ganguly has attended every selection meeting since he took over as BCCI president in October 2019.
Raising the issue, two selectors said that Ganguly would log in for online selection meetings and “because of his stature and position, no one could object”. One of them revealed that they often felt “bullied” by his presence.
“It made many committee members uncomfortable and guarded in expressing their opinion,” said the selector, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Multiple sources in the Indian board confirmed Ganguly’s presence at selection meetings. They also said that given that Ganguly is a former India captain, some less-experienced selectors were “reluctant to express their opinion”.
The current chairman of selectors, Chetan Sharma, has featured in 23 Tests and 65 One-day Internationals and his predecessor M S K Prasad in six Tests and 17 ODIs. The combined experience of the current group of selectors, which also includes Debashish Mohanty, Sunil Joshi, and Harvinder Singh, is 43 Tests and 195 ODIs.
Ganguly attending selection meetings first came to light on October 24, 2019, a day after he was elected BCCI president.
BCCI had tweeted a photo with a caption: “All smiles at the Senior Selection Committee meeting earlier this afternoon as the teams for the forthcoming T20I & Test series against Bangladesh were announced.”
It included Ganguly seated between the then chief selector, Prasad, and BCCI secretary Jay Shah, along with the then skipper Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and other selectors.
Ganguly denied the claims and told PTI, “I want to make it clear that the picture wasn’t from a selection committee meeting.”
About allegations of him influencing team selection, he told the news agency: “I don’t think I need to answer anybody, anything (on this) and dignify any of these baseless accusations. I am the president of the BCCI and I do the job of what the president of the BCCI should be doing. (I have played) 424 international matches for India. Not a bad idea at times to remind people about it, isn’t it?”
(Indian Express inputs)
